


Crime & Punishment

by baelistair



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Demisexuality, Dwarven Carta (Dragon Age), Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Explicit Consent, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Light BDSM, M/M, My First Fanfic, Original Character Death(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Templars (Dragon Age)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-19
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-27 04:45:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5034253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baelistair/pseuds/baelistair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hanne and Nik Cadash have traveled to the Divine Conclave to gather intel for the Carta, but this simple job is about to go off the rails.</p><p>A fic following my game playthrough with Hanne Cadash because there's not nearly enough Cadash love on this site and because I keep coming up with all these feelsy headcanons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night.

Nik Cadash rushed down the hallway, heading for the House meeting room as quickly as he could. As he passed the mirror and water basin half-way down the hallway, he cursed and turned back to it. "Right, gotta fix this shit first." he mumbled.

He was covered in dried mud and street muck, the earthy clay clashing with his brown skin and hiding his dark blue face tattoos. He quickly ruffled his fingers through his short black hair and beard, trying to shake most of the dirt off. Then he grabbed the basin's drying cloth, wetted it, and scrubbed at his face. He shot a quick prayer to the Maker that the info he had stumbled upon was enough to prevent Mother killing him for being late. Nik glanced up at the mirror again - it would have to be good enough. He shook his hands, wary of trying to dry them on his disgusting clothes, and rushed on down the hallway. As he approached the door, he could hear his elder sister Hanne speaking.

"-then assuming the new guys can handle a little rebellion crossfire, my crew will pick it up."

"Good. If they give you any trouble just tell them that next time they can make the Kirkwall run. That should shut them up quick. - Now, Marcus, how are you progressing with your Seeker contacts?" said his mother. Nik cautiously opened the door then, thinking it was better to go in during the topic change. He avoided the gaze of everyone at the table, making a beeline for his seat next to Hanne. His mother ignored him completely, finishing her conversation with his cousin. Hanne too kept her face blank, trying to focus on the business at hand, though a crinkle formed in her brow as Nik sat down. She scrawled a note on the corner of one of her papers and slid it over to Nik without looking at him. He glanced down at the paper.

__

_\--- Where the fuck have you been? Mom is PISSED. ---_

Nik sighed and grabbed her pencil, scrawling his own note under hers.

__

_\--- I was with Corwin - lost track of time, but I came across some choice intel so hopefully she will get over it. ---_

He slipped the paper back to her. Hanne smirked at the note, her purple eyes twinkling in amusement at the mention of his lover, but wrote nothing more. Their mother was finished and wrapping up the meeting.

"All right. Anyone have anything else?" she asked, looking around at everyone, pointedly skipping over Nik. He sighed internally, cleared his throat, and raised his hand.

"Excuse me Boss, but I actually came across some important info on the way to the meeting today. I felt it was necessary to stick around and gather as much as I could, which is why I was so late."

He didn't ask for forgiveness, that would come later when he could speak privately to his mother (it was about time to let her know about Corwin anyway). She turned her hard gaze to him and nodded her assent for him to speak. Nik stood and clenched his hands together, rubbing at the palm of his hand with the thumb of the opposite. It was a nervous tick that he hadn’t quite broken himself of, at least when he was around Mother.

"As I was passing through the market, I overheard a pair of Chantry Sisters speaking of a Conclave the Divine is apparently planning. Considering our interests in the outcome of the war, I decided to find a good position to listen in. They said the Divine has invited the mage and templar leaders to meet at the Temple of Sacred Ashes in one month. They plan to attempt to negotiate a truce. They're trying to keep it fairly quiet, but it sounds serious and I'm sure word will spread quickly. Whatever the outcome of the Conclave, I think we need someone there to hear where it goes." He spat the report out quickly.

Mother smirked, a mischievous glint in her blue-brown eyes. "And I take it, Niklaus, that your _good position_ was in the hog's trough nearby?" she asked. Nik ducked his head and unconsciously brushed at his clothes - still crusty.

"No, um, I was really rushing on the way here and slipped in a big mud puddle. You know... what with the rain lately..." he trailed off, embarrassed by his clumsiness. He realized he was rubbing at his hand still, and quickly shoved them into his pockets instead. Mother snorted in response - it was amazing how easily she could make him feel like an impertinent child still.

"Nik has a point though, Boss." Hanne said, "The outcome of the Conclave will directly affect our market one way or another. We could send an agent or two with the old travelling merchant gimmick. It wouldn't be too hard to stick around, get a feel for things, maybe make some deliveries to their kitchens to gain direct access." Nik glanced down at his sister, slightly surprised. She never stuck her neck out unless she really thought it was a good idea.

Mother stretched as she rose from the table. "True enough." she begrudged. "You and Niklaus can handle it yourselves. I expect you two to come up with a solid plan and have it on my desk by tomorrow morning. Hanne you're lead." As she walked for the door, the rest of the House leaders began to follow suit. Hanne furrowed her brow, creating a funny wrinkle in her purple tattoo. She lifted herself up from her chair, mouth opening to ask a question before Mother called back over her shoulder. "And don't worry about your crew's shipment. I'll oversee it personally. We'll see if those nug-fuckers want to keep giving you shit after that." She laughed with only a little bit of evil to it.

As everyone else left, Nik let out a sigh of relief, relaxing his jaw from where he had held it clenched with nervousness for so long. He slumped back down in his chair. Hanne turned around and slid up to sit on the table so she could face him. _'She does like to be tall'_ , he thought, chuckling internally.

"Well, Nuglet, it seems you haven't fucked up entirely. Mom didn't even tell you off… much… I'm impressed." she said, face serious.

Nik smiled and leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms to try and knock out the last of his tension. Hanne never quite realized when her compliments were backhanded. That or she just never really cared. Nik was never quite sure.  
"Thanks. Though I guess I made a lot of extra work for us tonight." he said, shrugging apologetically. Hanne grinned, mischievous in the same way that Mother looked when trying to trip him up. Sudden dread flashed over Nik.

"Well yes that’s true, but first you have to give me all the details with Corwin,” she said, eyes dancing as Nik rolled his. “You were asking him to move in with you right? Did he blush? Did he say yes? Did he cry? Oh!" She gasped, and eagerly leaned forward before murmuring, "Was he so excited that he just fucked you right then and there? You couldn't have been held up _that_ long by just the Chantry sisters."

Her waggling eyebrows matched by her deep husky tone were far too much for Nik to deal with, so with an exasperated groan, he hid his face in his hands. Hanne laughed and leaned back. "Oh now I _know_ he did. Congrats on the sex, Nuglet!" she said. Nik uncovered his face with a huff to glare at his smug sister.

"Andraste's tits, fine! Yes, he said yes. No, he didn't cry. And-" He stuttered, belly flopping at the memory of his exuberant human lover's embrace. Heat rushed to his face and he was suddenly very glad for having inherited their father's dark skin - it helped to hide his absolute mortification. He cleared his throat, smoothing his beard down in an attempt at appearing collected. "Uh and don't we have a job to be planning? Lots of things to plan before tomorrow. You know, I don't think Mother would be very happy if we didn't have this ready in the morning, so we should really get started." he said in his best business tone of voice, hoping desperately that Hanne would let the subject drop for now.

She laughed, and slid back down off the table. She sat in her normal chair and slid her papers back close. "All right, all right. I'll let it go, but only because you're right." She glanced over at him, "If you're the one keeping me in line, maybe we'll make a real Cadash leader of you yet."

Nik's belly flopped for an entirely different reason - that was exactly what he was most afraid of.

\---

A few weeks later Hanne, Nik, and Mattias (one of the carta's less deadly looking guards) arrived in Haven. They quickly found a space in the small market to set up their stand. They unloaded the wagon (mostly household wares, fabrics, and food supplies), before beginning the task of maintaining the appearance of normal merchants. As the Conclave began questions arose, so Hanne and Nik claimed to be from Kirkwall. The story was that they had decided it was a better risk to travel around selling their wares than it was to stay in the crumbling city. It didn't come up much, but it was enough for word to spread and for most suspicion to lift away from them.

Nik reached up to scratch at his itchy face for the thousandth time, stopping himself at the last moment. He hated the thick makeup they had to wear to cover their face tattoos, but it couldn't be helped. The blocky designs clearly pointed them out as high ranking members of House Cadash. While the likelihood that anyone would recognize them here was slim, they couldn’t risk it for the sake of the operation. Not that it had been very fruitful so far; they hadn't even found an excuse to ascend the mountain to the temple yet.

Nik sighed - he was bored and grumpy and he _really_ missed Corwin. At the rate they were going, they wouldn't hear about the results of the Conclave until it was officially announced, and then he would have postponed moving in with Corwin for absolutely nothing. Of course, the thought of Mother’s potential fury was much more motivating.

He was about to leave for the tavern, thinking a drink might help, when Hanne returned to the stall. One look at her swaggering walk and Nik knew their luck was finally changing.

"Good news Nuglet!" she said, leaning against the frame of their stall. "I ran into the quartermaster for the Temple and managed to convince her to let us make some regular supply deliveries."

Nik's blue-brown eyes gleamed as he rose from his stool. "Fucking finally!" he exclaimed. "When do we start?"

"Tonight actually. Go ahead and get your gear ready. And grab my cold gear while you’re in there…" She glanced up at the wagon behind Nik and shouted, **"OY! MATT!"**

A small yelp came from the inside of the wagon before the young ginger man emerged from it. "Uh y-yes boss?" he asked tentatively, brushing through his hair - trying to hide that he had obviously been napping.

Nik huffed a small laugh at how Hanne's brow snapped together in stern frustration. "Nik and I have some deliveries to make up the mountain. We won't be back until late, so I expect you to take care of the stall, and if I catch wind of you closing up early…” she trailed off, letting the poor sod's imagination do the work for her. The horror that flashed through his eyes as he stammered an affirmative was enough to know her silent threat had worked.

Nik rose and headed to gather his gear, leaving Hanne to finish instructing the boy. He changed into a looser shirt and breeches, strapping his hidden blade sheaths on underneath. He touched up his makeup and grabbed his pack. Last he gathered up his bow, jacket, and Hanne's bag of scarves and gloves before heading back outside.

\---

It didn't take long to load the few bolts of fabric and sacks of baking supplies onto their packhorse. Hanne took the reins to lead it while Nik walked ahead, his bow out and ready for any surprises.

The trip up to the temple seemed to take an age. It was snowy and cold, though that didn't bother Nik nearly as much as it did Hanne, who had layered on what appeared to be three or four crochet scarves (all squished under her long hooded leather jacket - Nik wondered how she could move under all that bulk). The path was long and winding and quite steep at times, but time passed even slower than it should have. Nik was pumped to finally make some progress.

Eventually, they spotted the temple ahead, the entrance guarded by a few Qunari. Nik unstrung his bow and strapped it onto his back, not wanting to appear threatening to the mercenary group hired to keep the peace at the Conclave. As they neared, Nik waved at the nearest guard, letting his shaky excitement pass as nervousness. Most merchants would have been at least a little intimidated by the Qunari, so it was best to keep up that appearance.

The close guard was a formidable looking woman with horns that curved around like a ram's, silver hair cropped short, stern green eyes, and a long scar that curved from her cheek to the side of her head - cutting right through the top of her left ear where the tip was missing. She had a big two-handed axe strapped to her back and was wearing a sturdy set of leather and chainmail armor. Nik stopped about several feet away from her so he wouldn’t have to crane his neck to look at her.

"H-hello there!" he said, allowing a small tremor to come into his voice. "The quartermaster hired my sister and I to deliver some of our supplies here." He jerked his thumb back towards Hanne and the packhorse. "W-would you be so kind as to telling us where we could unload?"

The qunari woman nodded and motioned them forward. "Sure, I just have to inspect your goods and take your weapons before I let you in." she said.

Nik hesitated, making a pointedly nervous glance back at Hanne. He needed the woman to think he didn't want to give up his visible weapon, hopefully it would deter her from checking them for concealed ones. The woman chuckled. "Don't worry dwarf. I understand that the path up can be dangerous. I don't blame you for protecting yourself, but I can assure you that there will be no need for them while in the Temple. I will return them once you leave." she said.

Nik allowed his shoulder muscles to relax as he sighed in a visible show of relief. He and Hanne approached the woman, handing over his bow and Hanne's large hip daggers while the woman glanced through the packs on the horse. After a moment she nodded, motioned them through the gate, and said, "The kitchen is on the east end of the courtyard. You can't miss it."

Nik thanked her, and the two passed into the Temple. After they were out of earshot, Hanne squished down her scarves so her mouth was exposed. "Nice work, Nuglet. I'll join you at the kitchen briefly, but then I'm going to go see what info I can gather. You stay behind to make the actual delivery. I should be back around in an hour or so."

"What? No way Hanne, I've been sitting around all damn day at the stall while you've been making contacts and actually doing some fucking work." he snapped.

Hanne sighed, "Sorry Nik, but I have a contact I need to speak to directly. I promise that next week we'll switch jobs, but today I need you to be the boring decoy."

Nik grumbled, but relented. "Ugh, fine. But you owe me an extra drink tonight when we get back."

She laughed and elbowed him. "Yeah yeah sure, Nuglet. Whatever you say. I'll see you in an hour, all right?"

They reached the kitchen then, and Hanne spoke briefly to the head cook before leaving Nik to do all the unloading. He sighed and resigned himself to his duty, listening to where the imposing cook told him to place the sacks of grain and sugar. It only took him about 30 minutes to unload everything - there was only so much that a single horse could carry.

When he was done, he stretched his back and sat on a sturdy crate outside the kitchen. The cook had been kind enough to offer him a warm mug of pressed cider and a slice of warm pumpkin bread, so he relaxed and began eating his snack while waiting on Hanne to return.

But then everything was fire and pain before a quick darkness overtook him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOOM THERE IT IS. ~~im so sorry~~
> 
> So as much as it pains me to set the story up like this (I've grown to really really like Nik), it was kind of necessary... But if you like Nik never fear! I have a game file for him where I plan on having him romance Dorian! So maybe someday (like a LONG time from now lmao) there will be a companion piece to this one where Nik survives instead of Hanne. Oh! And then we could have Dorian & Corwin DRAMA! That would be lots of fun.
> 
> Obviously with the next chapter we'll be shifting into Hanne's POV. There will be a lot of canon dialogue to slog through, but I've filtered in quite a bit of unique dialogue and internal stuff, so hopefully it helps make the canon shit more enjoyable to read. That chapter should be posted sometime tonight or tomorrow (I just need to clean up one little scene). In the future, I hope to update about once a week.
> 
> Special shout out to my bestie [Tina](http://infernumequinomin.tumblr.com) for beta reading for me even though you haven't actually played Inquisition. (or like... anything dragon age aside from the beginning of origins. lmao how did i rope you into doing this???) Your help is super wonderful and appreciated!!! 


	2. For the enemy has pursued me, crushing my life to the ground, making me sit in darkness like those long dead.

When Hanne woke, the first thing she noticed was how fucking _cold_ she was. She was sitting on her knees, some sort of large shackle around her wrists, and some asshole had stolen all of her scarves _and_ her jacket. For an absurd moment all she could think of was the countless hours she would have to waste remaking them.

Then there was a sharp, searing, stabbing pain in her left hand and she gasped, jerked back into reality. She looked up and away from the green glow, trying to ignore it, only to be blessed with the view of swords pointed at her Maker damned throat.

Hanne clenched her eyes shut, trying to remember what happened, but not much came back. Suddenly the door across from her slammed open. She jerked her head up at the noise and two women entered the cell. Her guards sheathed their swords and Hanne glared the women down. _’Clearly these two hold the power… Maybe they can explain what in the Maker’s name is going on,’_ she thought.

The armored woman stalked around behind Hanne and leaned down over her. “Tell me why we shouldn’t kill you now,” she growled, leaning back up and continuing around to face Hanne. “The conclave is destroyed. Everyone who attended is _dead._ Except for you.”

Hanne didn’t speak for a moment, her mind reeling. _‘Everyone? Does that mean-‘_ Her thought was cut short by the woman grabbing her left forearm, a flash of green light and an extra stab striking her hand.

“Explain this.” The woman said, throwing Hanne’s arm back down.

“I can’t. I don’t re-“ Hanne said.

“What do you mean you _can’t _?” the woman cut her off.__

Hanne huffed, her frustration at the absurd situation growing. “I don’t know what that is, or how it got there.” She snapped.

The woman grabbed and lifted her by the shirt.

“You’re lying.” She snarled.

The hooded woman finally stepped in, pulling the other one off of Hanne. “We need her, Cassandra,” she said. The hooded woman and Cassandra backed off for a moment, one long enough for Hanne to get her own question in.

“Are you sure I’m the only one alive?” she asked, voice cracking at the end. She cursed internally at the show of weakness, but if Nik was… she refused to think the word.

They ignored her and the hooded woman took over the questioning.

“Do you remember what happened? How this began?” she asked.

Hanne tried to think back, immediately shying away from the last memory of her brother, but then there was a blankness and then, “I remember… running? And these… _things_ were chasing me… Then, a-a woman?”

“A woman?” the hooded woman asked.

“She reached out to me, but then…” Hanne said.

Cassandra huffed and cut her off again. “Go to the forward camp, Leliana. I will take her to the rift.”

Leliana nodded and silently turned to leave. Cassandra turned back to Hanne and removed her shackles, only to bind her wrists with rough chord. The scrape of it helped to keep her grounded.

“What did happen?” she asked, afraid of information for the first time in her life.

“It… will be easier to show you…” Cassandra softly replied.

She helped Hanne stand and led her out of the cell, up some stairs, and through the Chantry. Hanne immediately recognized it as the one in Haven. More guards opened the sanctuary doors for them and Hanne was blinded by the brightness for a moment. She shielded her eyes for a moment, her eyes watering as she blinked to adjust. When her vision cleared, though, she looked at the sky and saw a huge green rip – the same green as her hand.

_“Shit.”_

“We call it the breach,” said Cassandra. “It’s a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour.”

Hanne stared at the breach, her eyes wide with shock. Cassandra turned back to her. “It’s not the only such rift. Just the largest. All were caused by the explosion at the Conclave,” she said.

Hanne wrenched her gaze away from it and looked up at Cassandra instead.

“An explosion can do that?” she asked, trying to make sense of at least _something_.

“This one did. Unless we act the Breach may grow until it swallows the world,” Cassandra replied.

The sky flared and so did Hanne’s palm, sending another strong spasm through it and up her spine. She cried out, “FUCK!” and fell to her knees, clenching her fist tight.

Cassandra kneeled down with her. “Each time the breach expands your mark spreads, and it is killing you. It may be the key to stopping this, but there isn’t much time.”

The pain receded to a dull burning throb. She glared at Cassandra, “You never answered my question before, about being sure I’m the only survivor.” Cassandra opened her mouth to answer but Hanne cut her off in return. “I don’t care about anything else but this. Has anyone found a dwarf man? Brown skin, blue face tattoos similar to mine, short black hair and beard? He’s about 4'10”, has freckles and brown eyes rimmed with blue.” Her voice cracked again as she tried to prevent the tears from rushing out.

Cassandra shifted her gaze to the ground. “No such man has been seen since before the explosion,” she said quietly.

Hanne clenched her eyes shut, the sudden gaping hole in her gut much more painful than her hand as grief smashed through her. _’Since **before** the explosion. She knows of Nik, so he must be… **dead** ,’_ she thought.

She allowed herself a moment more to mourn, but sudden seething rage began to fill her. Someone had done this, taken away her family, and she was going to find them and fucking _slaughter_ them. House Cadash held _no_ mercy for those who wronged them, and if it meant staying here and risking her life with these assholes, then she would do it.

Hanne snapped her head up, her face contorted with anger. “Take me to the breach,” she said.

Cassandra was startled back by the change in the dwarf’s demeanor. “Then you’ll help?” she asked.

“I’ll do whatever it takes,” Hanne replied.

Cassandra nodded and helped Hanne to stand. She led her through the village, talking at Hanne the whole time, but Hanne didn’t hear any of it. She was too busy trying to lock away her warring emotions so that they did not overwhelm her. If she wanted to get this done, she needed to be clear-headed.

They reached a gated bridge and as the doors closed behind them, Cassandra turned back to Hanne, pulling a small knife from her belt.

“There will be a trial. I can promise no more,” she said, and cut the rope binding Hanne’s wrists. “Come it is not far.”

She walked on across the bridge. Hanne followed, rubbing at her chaffed wrists.

“Your mark must be tested on something smaller than the breach,” said Cassandra. They approached the large doors at the opposite end of the bridge. “Open the gate,” she called. “We are heading into the valley.”

To Hanne she added, “There are some rifts nearby. We will go to them and see what can be done.”

They walked along the snowy path up towards the Temple, Hanne having to jog to keep up with the taller woman. She didn’t mind though, it kept her from freezing. Charred and burning wagons and corpses littered the path every so often. Hanne avoided looking at them.

They came to a small bridge and were halfway across when a glowing green boulder fell from the sky and smashed into it. The bridge collapsed, sending Hanne and Cassandra sprawling. As they rolled to the frozen river below, another green mass smashed into the ice in front of them. A demon appeared from within it.

Cassandra leapt to her feet, drawing her sword and shield. “Stay behind me!” she yelled before leaping towards the demon.

Hanne struggled to her feet, thankful that the ice was old enough to be rough. Then a green flash appeared in front of her and another demon emerged. She frantically scanned the rubble behind her, and luck graced her with a smashed crate, daggers spilling out of it. She snatched up two of them and leapt to her right, ducking and rolling to dodge the taloned sweep of the demon’s arm. She jumped up into an easy stance, shifting her weight from foot to foot so she was always prepared to move.

Hanne was behind the demon now. Thankfully it was slow, so she had enough time to take a breath before making her own attack. She flipped her daggers around so the blades pointed back towards her. Dashing forward, she jumped and plunged her daggers into the demon’s back. It screamed as she wrenched her daggers out. She slipped a bit on the ice as she landed, but managed to right herself. However, it wasn’t quite quick enough. The demon snarled and turned, slashing at her with its talons again. She yelled in pain as the flesh in her left shoulder was torn.

Gritting her teeth, Hanne jumped to the right to dodge the demon’s following sweep. The two were facing in opposite directions, backs exposed to the other. Before the demon could take advantage, she spun on her left leg, wrenching her hips around and lifting her right leg up high to kick the demon in the middle of its back. The demon was knocked off balance and smashed face-first into the ice. Hanne quickly righted herself, then slammed her knees down onto the demon, stabbing her daggers into its back again. With a high-pitched whine, it dissolved into a puddle of ooze that evaporated from beneath her and was gone.

Hanne was breathing heavily, her heart racing. Grunting, she hoisted herself up and looked to see if Cassandra was all right, only to be met by the sight of yet another sword aimed at her throat.  
“Drop your weapons, now,” snarled Cassandra.

Hanne stood her ground, shifting back into her stance, daggers held up to guard her face.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s demons falling from the fucking sky,” she said. “Unless you want to fight all of them by yourself, I suggest you let me keep these.”

They glared at each other for a moment, but then Cassandra sighed and sheathed her sword.

“You’re right… I cannot protect you, and I cannot expect you to be defenseless.” She turned back toward the path. “I should remember you agreed to come willingly.”

Hanne hesitated, then dropped out of her stance. She went back to the crate to rummage for sheathes. Finding two, she strapped them to her belt and put her daggers away.

“You’re bleeding,” said Cassandra, who had turned back to see what was taking Hanne so long. She walked back to Hanne, pulling a couple of health potions from her belt pouch.

“Here take these. You may need them before we reach the forward camp.” She offered the potions to Hanne.

Hanne nodded and took them, murmuring her thanks as she pocketed one. She popped out the cork in the other and took a swig, grimacing at the harsh bitterness of the elfroot. She could feel her skin healing over on her shoulder enough to no longer be bleeding freely, so she recorked the vial. She had a feeling that she would need to be sparing with the potions.

\---

They continued up the path, finding more destruction and fighting more demons the farther they went. Eventually they came to a blown-apart stone building. An apostate elf and a dwarf with a very strange crossbow were in the middle, fighting demons that seemed to be emerging from a large green crystal that was hovering a few feet off the ground. Hanne and Cassandra charged in to help them.

With the combined efforts of ice magic, crossbow bolts, sword, and daggers, it didn’t take long for the demons to be dealt with and dissolved into the ooze, which Hanne noticed didn’t so much evaporate as get sucked back into the crystal. As the last one died, the apostate dashed over to Hanne.

“Quickly, before more come through!” he said and grabbed Hanne’s left forearm. He shoved the glowing hand toward the crystal and Hanne felt something pop as a jet of the green light was funneled through her palm. She held her breath, pain streaking through her body, but she was determined to not let it cause her to cry out again. The crystal exploded into a sheet of green light then snapped closed. The ray from her hand ricocheted back on her and knocked her back a few feet. She landed on her back and laid there for a moment. Her head was spinning a little too much for her comfort.

“Hey, Snowflake! You okay?” a voice called.

_’Snowflake?’_ Hanne groaned and sat up. She turned to look towards the source of the voice and saw the dwarf man. She nodded and waved to show she was well enough. He grinned and began to put away his crossbow.

Hanne stood, grunting at her aches. She sheathed the dagger in her right hand, glancing around for where she dropped the other one. She spotted it at the feet of the apostate, who was staring at the spot the crystal had been. He looked almost serene in his contemplation, hands clasped lightly behind his back.

Hanne rolled her eyes. _’Fucking weirdo,’_ she thought as she approached and bent to grab her other dagger. She sheathed it and looked up at the elf.

“Oy, Baldy. You gonna keep staring at the air or are you going to tell me what the fuck you just did?” she asked.

He finally shifted his gaze down to her.

“I did nothing. The credit is yours,” he said.

Hanne quirked an eyebrow and lifted her glowing hand. “You mean this.”

He nodded. “Whatever magic opened the Breach in the sky also placed that mark upon your hand. I theorized the mark might be able to close the rifts that have opened in the Breach’s wake, and it seems I was correct,” he explained. He was smug. Hanne wanted to rip that pompous grin right off his face.

“Meaning it could also close the Breach itself,” said Cassandra.

“Possibly,” said the apostate. He glanced back down at Hanne. “It seems you hold the key to our salvation.”

Hanne frowned slightly and clenched her marked hand. She didn’t like where that kind of thinking might lead. All she wanted was to get to the Breach so she could try and figure out who caused this. She needed to go find the bastard and kill them, not stick around and play hero.

“Good to know! Here I thought we’d be ass-deep in demons forever,” said the dwarf as he walked up to join the group. Hanne snorted in spite of everything – at least _someone_ wasn’t so serious. She needed a little distracting humor at a time like this.

“Varric Tethras: rogue, storyteller, and occasionally unwelcome tagalong,” he said and winked at Cassandra. Cassandra glared at him, disgust plain on her face. Hanne sniggered, but quickly smoothed her features back into a normal smile.

“Tethras, huh? How come the rest of your House isn’t so friendly?” she asked, genuinely surprised to find that its head was so likable.

Varric grinned, “Oh ho! Met my brother have you? I didn’t realize the leaders of House Cadash dealt with day-to-day _guild_ business.”

A moment of concerned confusion passed through Hanne, but then she felt her face and realized her makeup was gone. Of course the first moment that her face was bare would also be when she met the one person who could identify her tattoos. _’He hasn’t implied anything Carta-related though. Maybe I can convince him to keep that on the down low,’_ she thought.

Hanne flashed her business smile, bright and cheery but with a little too much teeth to be friendly. She placed her hands on her hips. “Well you’re one to talk aren’t you? Head of your House and all the way out here, slogging through the snow and demons with the rest of us.”

“Hey, technically I’m a prisoner, just like you,” he said.

“I brought you here to tell your story to the divine,” said Cassandra. “Clearly that is no longer necessary.” Her hint that she wanted him to leave was not very subtle.

“Yet, here I am. Lucky for you, considering current events,” he replied.

Hanne nodded and spoke before an argument broke out. “True enough. Good to meet you, Varric.”

“You may reconsider that stance, in time,” said the apostate.

“Aww. I’m sure we’ll become great friends in the valley, Chuckles.”

Hanne laughed, but Cassandra was clearly done with dancing around the subject.

“Absolutely not. Your help is appreciated Varric, but-”

He cut her off, “Have you been in the valley lately, Seeker? Your soldiers aren’t in control anymore. You need me.” His tone was intentionally flirtatious, the perfect way to annoy Cassandra apparently.

“Ugh.”

Hanne smirked as Cassandra walked away in defeat.

“My name is Solas, if there are to be introductions. I am pleased to see you still live,” said the apostate in a poor attempt at breaking the tension. Hanne raised an eyebrow at his phrasing.

“He means, ‘I kept that mark from killing you while you slept,” amended Varric.

“Ah. Thanks then, Solas. I’m Hanne,” she said, intentionally steering the group away from addressing her by her last name.

Solas rambled on for a few moments about his involvement and what he could figure out about the Breach and the mark on her hand, however most of it was just him preaching the obvious. Hanne zoned out, thinking instead about how Nik would be amused by this strange group. She decided that she would have to introduce them all- but then she remembered. All her air left her lungs. She bit down on her lip and dug her nails into her palms. This was _not_ the time for breaking down.

She took a moment to lock away her emotions again. As long as she didn’t think about it, it didn’t exist. She quickly began listening again, desperate for a distraction.

“Indeed I find it difficult to imagine any mage with such power,” Solas said, finishing whatever sentence he was in the middle of.

“Understood,” said Cassandra. “We must get to the forward camp quickly.”

She walked off, heading back toward the path. The rest followed her, Varric shrugging and saying, “Well… Bianca’s excited.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's chapter two ~~finally~~!  
>  I didn't want to just skip over the beginning part of the game as it holds really important things for Hanne's character development, but at the same time I've read so many fics that either gloss through the whole thing or keep everything the direct game dialogue and nothing else. Neither of those are fun to read, so I tried to keep it fresh by adding in extra stuff and by skipping over most of the stuff that is usually in there as background info for the new player. Since I'm assuming a majority of us have played through the intro at least, and since Hanne would know all of this stuff already (I mean, she's acting as a SPY like come ON Cass. you don't have to tell her what the fucking CONCLAVE was for omg), I figured it'd be okay to skip over a lot of that stuff.
> 
> As always, you can find me on tumblr at [baelistair](http://baelistair.tumblr.com) and super thanks to [Tina](http://infernumequinomin.tumblr.com) for beta reading for me even though she hasn't actually played Inquisition. (or like... anything dragon age aside from the beginning of origins. lmao how did i rope her into doing this???) Your help is super wonderful and appreciated!!!


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